


Sanctuary

by TortiTabby



Series: BWADH VERSE [2]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Animal care, Established Relationship, Historical AU, M/M, Wild animals, circus AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-21 08:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21071900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TortiTabby/pseuds/TortiTabby
Summary: An old friend shows up at Dan and Phil's home with an odd request.





	Sanctuary

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you callie for beta reading and being as excited about BWADH content as I am <3 <3  
  
Using this as my historical au square for bingo!  
  
** This is set after Breathing With A Diving Heart ends. If you haven't read it it will be spoiled for you! **  
[ you can start from the beginning here ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17763920/chapters/41915045)

Phil’s eyes snapped open. 

He groped the blanket next to him in the dark of his bedroom and sighed in relief when it grunted angrily at him. 

He couldn’t remember any of the details of the dream, just that Dan was gone and they were apart again. 

Dan’s face was pinched in a frown from the far too early wake up call. Phil reached out and pet Dan’s hair back, staring as the frown lines and wrinkles smoothed themselves out as Dan nuzzled closer to Phil’s hand. His stomach swooped at the thought that this was real and that Dan wasn’t going anywhere. 

Lion the lion roared from their grounds, loud and proud and much too early. Phil already had to apologize to Mr. Jenkins about it once this month.

He slid out of bed and watched Dan pout before settling back into sleep. He didn’t always sleep soundly so Phil was determined to let him have a lie in whenever he could. 

Outside their bedroom window he could make out the figure of Lion stalking his roomy enclosure, haughty with his head up.

Phil couldn’t help but be excited every time Lion the  _ lion _ got to actually act like a lion, even if they did keep having to send Kath’s famous baked goods as apologies for early morning wake up calls from the king of the jungle. 

Lioness stretched on their tall rock that Dan had found for them. Phil laughed to himself. She didn’t seem impressed by the early morning wake up call any more than Mr. Jenkins did.

They weren’t expecting Lioness to join their family. She had been unnamed and unloved. There was never any clear answer on where she came from. Someone had heard through the grapevine about Lion and travelled four days with a trailer, Lioness in tow, begging them to take her and give her the life that she deserved. 

Phil hesitated at first. They got more than enough meat from the butcher in town, with an open invitation for Dan to work whenever he wanted to and get paid in meat. They still had an abundance of space and, honestly, one look at Dan’s face and Phil knew they were taking the lion in. 

He trailed downstairs, careful to avoid the creaking floorboards and make his coffee as quietly as possible. 

He no more than sat down with it still steaming when someone knocked on their front door. He sighed, that would definitely wake Dan up. 

He dragged his feet to their door and frowned at the unfamiliar blonde woman with pleading green eyes.

“I’m sorry. Are you Dan or– or Phil?” 

“I’m Phil,” he said cautiously.

A smaller, bouncier woman, skipped up the path to their home and wrapped her arms around Phil before he could comprehend who it was. 

“Sophia!” he exclaimed and hugged her tighter.

“What’s going on?” Dan’s groggy voice called out from behind him.

Sophia was hugging him before he even knew what was happening.

“Come in,” he urged the other woman who was still watching him carefully, fear on her face.

“Sophia told me about you two.”

Phil arched an eyebrow. People didn’t take kindly to the lifestyle he had with Dan, but people around their quiet town accepted them and didn’t talk about it. He knew Sophia wouldn’t have brought someone dangerous to their home but his heart raced until she quickly eased his worries.

“No, I don’t. We–” She glanced helplessly at Sophia with a look on her face his mum would give his dad. A look Dan sometimes shot his way when he said something particularly stupid but endearing.

_ Oh _ . 

“I’m Vera.” She said, tucking her shockingly white blonde hair behind her ear. “Soph told me you could help me– or that you might be able to–” 

“Vera is our new strong man. Strong woman,” Sophia piped up proudly. “She’s great. You two need to see her in action.” Her face turned bright red. “At the show! Lifting things, being strong.” Her voice cracked. 

Dan smirked at Phil over her shoulder. 

“What do you need from us? You know we’re always here to help you guys. Is Flora doing well?”

Sophia nodded at Phil. “We had a lot of people come from the circus Vera was in. We’re really thriving and it’s running smoother than it ever was with Abram…” she trailed off.

“We had animals. Mistreated, miserable animals. I heard you saved some, that you have a place they can have a good life here?”

Dan met Phil’s eyes before looking back at her. They were going to agree. Phil already knew. Before he heard what animals or how many, he knew. They had room and the means to feed them. Dan didn’t believe in things like fate but Phil couldn’t help feeling like maybe this was what they were meant to do.

“How many?” Dan asked. 

She gulped and shrunk down. A lot, then. 

“There’s three bears. One of them, the little one they never named, needs her leg looked at. I’m worried it’s going to have to go. We also have a mean old tiger named Stripes.” 

Phil looked at Dan and cocked his head to the side in a question. Dan nodded once, curtly. It was settled then.

“We need to build enclosures.” Phil said.

“You’ll take them?” Sophia spun between the two of them and slung an arm around each of them. “You guys are the best!”

“Thank you!” Vera exclaimed.

“They have crates that they’re in. We can lug them around with us but we also don’t have anywhere to go right now. It’s cold and Flora was thinking about staying put through the winter. If we can find somewhere close we can help build the habitats for them.”

“Wait,” Dan interrupted. “Just stay here. Not just this winter but whenever the circus needs to stop for a bit.” 

“We have plenty of land,” Phil insisted, quickly seeing what Dan was thinking. “You can even do shows when you want, we have a trail a ways away from the house that would go straight to a perfect place for the tent.”

“That’s too much. It’s too generous,” Vera argued.

“They aren’t taking no for an answer, and if you somehow convince them  _ you’re _ the one telling Flora why she doesn’t get to see them.” Sophia laughed. 

“We’re at the next town over until we could figure out where we were going next. Do you want to come with me to tell Flora? We could use the extra hands bringing everyone here, anyway.” 

They agreed and went upstairs to get dressed. 

“I’m excited. It’ll be nice seeing everyone. I miss Flora,” Dan said as he tucked his shirt into his trousers. 

Phil nodded excitedly while he pulled his boots on. “I know I should be worried. It’s a lot more responsibility and it’s with an injured bear and a tiger that hates people, but,” he paused with a laugh. “I’m really not. Is that odd?”

Dan snorted as he fumbled with his suspenders. Phil walked over and knocked his hands out of the way.

“It is odd but so is everything you do.” Dan beamed up at him. “I’m really– I’m so  _ happy _ .” he said in a whisper.

Phil kissed him, sweet and chaste before leaning back to meet his eyes. “I am too. Happier than I could have imagined. Ready to go get our circus?”

Dan laughed heartily. “I definitely am.” 

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think and if you ever want something else from the bwadh world- I really love writing them so just let me know! I plan on writing more timestamps for it.  
[ You can reblog on tumblr here if you'd like!! <3 ](https://tortitabby.tumblr.com/post/188412189015/sanctuary)


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